McLaren lacked pace to compete - Alonso

Fernando Alonso says McLaren simply lacked pace to be competitive in Canada as the outfit's string of races inside the points came to an end.

McLaren had scored points across three successive Grands Prix and Alonso continued its encouraging form by qualifying inside the top 10 at a circuit where the outfit expected to struggle.

However, Alonso was able to come home only 11th while team-mate Jenson Button failed to finish.

Alonso also clarified a comment he made late in the race when he radioed McLaren to ask whether he could stop.

"A tough race – we didn’t have the pace to be competitive," he said.

"I enquired about the possibility of fitting fresh tyres for the last few laps, but I guess it was a little too much of a risk: at that point we were 11th and stood to score a point or two at the end if something were to have happened ahead of us.

"Still, I’d done more than 50 laps on those tyres – and the two-stoppers were a lot faster than me.

"I guess we were a bit unlucky – we really needed some rain or a Safety Car to put us back in the fight.

"Ultimately, I think our strategy was the right one – it was the quickest way home."